OBS April Session 2 wrap: New York-bred co-toppers bring $150,000

Thursday, April 26th, 2018

by Sarah Mace

Making a solid showing in the second session of this year’s OBS April 2-year-olds in training sale, the New York-bred cohort produced a pair of individuals who sold for $150,000: a colt from the first crop of New York sire and 2012 Travers dead-heater Alpha and a colt by Lookin At Lucky. To date nine New York-bred juveniles have brought six figures.

The Alpha colt, offered as Hip 367, turned heads on the second session of the under tack show when he turned in a quarter in :20 3/5, the session’s fastest work at the distance. Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi of the UAE signed the ticket for $150,000.

Bred by Sequel Stallions New York, who stands Alpha, and foaled on April 11, 2016, the colt sold last year at the OBS yearling sale for $18,000 to his OBS consignor Jose Munoz, making for a successful pinhook.

Said Munoz of the colt’s cost as a yearling, “I thought the price would be higher, considering Alpha did pretty good on the racetrack. To tell you the truth, I was really happy when I got him. I liked that he was by Alpha, a fresh sire who performed good on the track. Secondly, he is a very athletic horse.”

Munoz, who trains a few horses every year either for partnerships or on his own, was pleased with the way the Alpha colt developed and not surprised by the colt’s nice work. He told the TDN, “I did [expect that type of work]. We never asked him for all he had in the previous workouts, but we knew he was way faster than that. He had two or three eighth works and two or three 3/16ths and maybe two quarters and he always did good.”

The colt’s dam is Forever Valentine, an unplaced runner by Silver Deputy who has already produced stakes winner Force and graded stakes performer Beau Valentine. She has a yearling colt by Mission Impazible and aborted a foal this year.

The second $150,000 New York-bred colt of the session, Hip 317, was purchased by Wise Racing. He is a dark bay/brown individual by Lookin At Lucky who was bred by Joe DiRico and foaled on March 4, 2016. Last year, he brought $40,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic yearling sale. The colt was consigned by Harris Training Center LLC, agent and worked a furlong in 10 2/5 in the under-tack show.

DiRico purchased the colt’s dam Esperanza d’Oro in-foal at the 2016 OBS winter mixed sale for $48,000. She has produced two winners from two starters and has a yearling filly on the ground by Normandy Invasion. In 2017 she was bred to Tamarkuz.

With first half of the OBS April sale in the books, of the 41 New York-bred juveniles offered 31 have changed hands (including four private sales) for a buyback percentage of 24.4%. The New York-bred average settled at $65,226 after the first two days of trading and the median stands at $50,000.

The numbers for the full population at the sale are strong. The cumulative average is $100,404 – up 18.6% from the same point at last year’s auction – and the median is up 22.2% to $55,000. The buy-back rate stands at 21.9%.

The auction continues with Hips 613-918 on Thursday and Hips 919-1222 on Friday. Sessions begin at 10:30 a.m.

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State; the unified voice of Thoroughbred breeders in the State of New York for purposes of
communicating the advantages and rewards of breeding Thoroughbreds in the State and for the
purposes of conducting and coordinating activities with breeding and racing associations and agencies.